Ryanair Reasonable Expenses

ajsglasgow

Hi can anyone help me with a Ryanair expenses claim? I was caught up in the ATC meltdown last summer and ended up being stranded in Copenhagen for 2 nights with 100s of other passengers. Ryanair have no staff in copehagen so they told me to arrange my own accommodation and claim back through expenses. When I submitted my claim they refused to pay all of my hotel costs even though I booked the cheapest one I could find on booking.com. They only paid £80 per night. They didn't mention this limit when they told me to book my own accommodation and I genuinely booked the cheapest hotel I could find - a motel one. I raised a case with Aviation ADR and they told me today that they have sided with Ryanair and I didn't provided the receipts - I have the receipts, I provided them to Ryanair, but I didn't add them to the aviation ADR claim because they didn't ask me to. I am £300 out of pocket through no fault of my own.

eskbanker

I can't see any reference to an £80 limit on their website, are they claiming that this is a published policy, and if so, where?

Having said that, I can see why a claim for a hotel at £230 per night might encounter some resistance, even in a popular European capital....

ajsglasgow

they only mentioned the £80 limit after I submitted my claim. The text message they sent to me said "if you are able to make your own arrangements please avail of this and submit a claim for all reasonable expenses incurred." I genuinely had no other option of a place to stay as there were so few hotel rooms available as so many people were looking for rooms after multiple flight cancellations

rigolith

Given the ATC problems affected so many people, and it's an expensive city anyway, £230 doesn't seem excessive.

Westin

Was your hotel bill purely for the overnight room cost?  Was anything else included on the bill that they might have found reason to reject?  Did the hotel bill have you listed on it as a guest?

ajsglasgow

it was for the room only - and yes I was listed as a guest. 

Westin

Then like others I cannot think why RyanAir are refusing to pay over any above the £80.  

I am also not sure of a limit to a hotel claim other than the amount being 'reasonable'.

ajsglasgow

Thanks all - I contacted the CAA to ask them if it was worth going to the small claims court. They also agreed that Ryanair should pay the full hotel bill so they have asked me to raise the claim again with Aviation ADR and ask them to relook at it - and if they refuse then I should go to the small claims court via the citizens advice bureau. Im not giving up !!

Grumpy_chap

I wonder whether the OP has any evidence, such as a screen shot, showing that the hotel they booked was competitively priced for the location and date required at short notice.  I am thinking like an aggregate booking website with available venues sorted by price and the hotel booked near the top of the listing.  I suspect the OP won't have this type of capture because, well, who would?  Some people might (if they've been burnt by this type of thing before) but I doubt that is a common thing to record.

Finally, how did the OP pay for the flights?  Is there any element under which this could be covered by S75?

ajsglasgow

I actually took a screenshot of the city centre map of Copenhagen on booking.com showing the few available hotels and the prices - I provided that with my claim to ryainair